WASHINGTON – President Obama has asked Congress to amend the 2015 budget to the tune of $5.6 billion dollars to help pay for the battle against the ISIL terrorist army, called Inherent Resolve.
The President also recently sent another 1,500 military personnel to Iraq to assist in the war.
The following is the letter President Obama sent to Congress Monday morning:
Dear Mr. Speaker:
I ask the Congress to consider the enclosed Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Budget amendments for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of State and Other International Programs (State/OIP) to fund Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). These amendments would provide $5.6 billion for OCO activities to degrade and ultimately defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) — including military operations as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.
Accordingly, this request would provide $5.0 billion for DOD OCO activities in addition to the $58.6 billion DOD OCO request I submitted to the Congress in June 2014, and would result in a total DOD OCO request for FY 2015 of $63.6 billion. This amount is $15.8 billion less than the $79.4 billion placeholder for DOD OCO in the FY 2015 Budget. The request would also provide $520 million for State/OIP OCO activities, which is in addition to the $7.3 billion I requested for State/OIP OCO activities in the FY 2015 Budget and the June budget amendment.
The approach to counter ISIL has evolved with emerging requirements identified subsequent to the June OCO amendment, and therefore not previously requested. These amendments include the additional funding necessary to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.
The details of these amendments are set forth in the enclosed letter from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
BARACK OBAMA
